Josh Bray Detail/Paint Correction

[Robo_#1]

The @JoshBray story...

So after my (rather long winded) story of cleaning @Fernandez's Cazan Clio, and some gentle (and persistent) name dropping by @smoggy mark (cheers dude). I got a few messages from forum members looking for some detailing work to be done on their car.

First up was local Rotherham boy Josh Bray. After speaking with Josh for a while about the car, he had mentioned that it was, well, … pretty bad.
Having a black car myself, I know all too well the heartbreak of the constant and seemingly never ending battle with swirl marks, scuffs and generally tired looking paint. Sometimes you think they’re a curse put on you to inflict nothing but misery….
HOWEVER! There is light at the end of the cleaning tunnel, because when they’re clean, they look f*cking epic! :bounce::cloud9:

So we set a date, in the calendar and set about a plan to give the car some paintwork loving via a DA and some cutting compounds. Now I’ll say right now, I did suspect that (like I tend to be about mine) Josh was being a bit critical of his own car, and maybe he was being a bit dramatic about the condition of the paint... He wasn't.


Here’s some before shots of the panels:-

IMG_8320 by Rob Owen!, on Flickr

IMG_8342 by Rob Owen!, on Flickr

IMG_8343 by Rob Owen!, on Flickr

So we got to work…
(there aren’t many in progress pics) I’ll be honest, I had a lot of work to get done, and with the weather being so nice I wanted to try and make sure Josh got the car back on the road with some time left to enjoy the weekend! – Also, you try washing a car AND operating a DSLR!


Firstly I snow foamed and gave the car the usual two bucket clean with some Swissvax foam and some Megs gold glass, although the car was pretty clean coming in we needed to make sure we had a good surface to start with. I checked the car over for fallout and tar spots, it was clear of fallout but did have a few bits of tar so out came some AF obliTARate. There was no need for a clay bar though as Josh had done a pretty good job claying it recently and keeping on top of the maintenance and cleaning of the car with his collection of cleaning products.


In came the car and on to some taping:

IMG_8317 by Rob Owen!, on Flickr

I then spent the next several hours working on the paintwork, only really stopping to get a couple of 50/50 shots of the car.

Here’s the front wing, showing the amount of swirls we've taken out of it, and also a picture with no flash or torch light just to show you the difference in overall colour of the car to the naked eye. These pictures are after the polishing stage, but before any LSP.


IMG_8363 by Rob Owen!, on Flickr

IMG_8367 by Rob Owen!, on Flickr

After the cut the car was finished with some Pooboys Black Hole Glaze, I know this has some fillers but IMO it’s one of the best finishing polishes (with no cut) for a Black Clio that I’ve used, just check out the flake pop on the rear bumper shot below!

The car was then sealed with AF Tough Coat ready for a coat of Wax from Josh in the coming days. Hopefully this will give plenty of longevity to the finish which Josh can top up with when he wants to while the weather is still a bit on/off.

Please note the pics are pretty much straight off the camera with only a bit of colour balancing/exposure correction. Also, due to me choosing to spend my time 100% on the paintwork (as agreed with Josh) the trims, seals, wheels and arches have all been left alone. Although Josh does seem to have a fetish for some good quality Auto Finesse products, so he can easily take care of these little bits during a regular wash.


Some finished pictures!


IMG_8371 by Rob Owen!, on Flickr

IMG_8376 by Rob Owen!, on Flickr

IMG_8378 by Rob Owen!, on Flickr

IMG_8385 by Rob Owen!, on Flickr

IMG_8395 by Rob Owen!, on Flickr

IMG_8397 by Rob Owen!, on Flickr

IMG_8403 by Rob Owen!, on Flickr

IMG_8404 by Rob Owen!, on Flickr

IMG_8407 by Rob Owen!, on Flickr

IMG_8410 by Rob Owen!, on Flickr

IMG_8411 by Rob Owen!, on Flickr

IMG_8416 by Rob Owen!, on Flickr

IMG_8422 by Rob Owen!, on Flickr

IMG_8423 by Rob Owen!, on Flickr

IMG_8428 by Rob Owen!, on Flickr

IMG_8429 by Rob Owen!, on Flickr

IMG_8435 by Rob Owen!, on Flickr

If you’ve gotten this far thanks for reading! I’d like to say thanks to Josh for fetching the car to me, and for being such a nice bloke it was good to spend the day chatting and cleaning. I’ll also admit now, that after spending so much time around Josh’s car I looked at mine on the drive when I got home and started to wonder if Josh would notice if I swapped wheels with him overnight haha!

Comments are more than welcome.

Also, if anyone else is interested in getting a bit of detailing work done, then feel free to drop me a PM.

 

[Foxspeed]

buffed up well :thumbup1:

 

[Rogue]

Looks great!

Bet it was dirty by the time it got home :lol: black fail

 

[Dmonk197]

Stunning.

 

[Deaks]

It really was swirly, damnn.

Came up well though, good job!

 

[badbuzz2]

Great work Rob and stunning motor josh:thumbup:

 

[Flipc]

Amazing work and Josh, the car is looking great!

 

[smoggy mark]

Top work Rob!!!!Josh has a very nice motor there he must be mad to get rid

Love Black when done right looks great:thumbup:

 

[Robo_#1]

Yeah Mark, Josh's car really is lovely, some very nice mods, and it all works really well together.

 

[LukeRS]

Great transformation

 

[chappers]

Looks great Rob!

How much correction do you think you achieved and what pad/polish combo did you go for?

 

[FaithlessEmo]

Spot on. Really impressed.

 

[JoshBray]

I cant thank you enough rob you have done an amazing job, i dint expect it to come up as well as it did.
people keep telling me im stupid for wanting to sell mark but i cant help but feel its time for a change.

thanks for the nice comments fellas

 

[-Eddie-]

Looks great, and that car sits spot on! Good job

 

[Robo_#1]

I cant thank you enough rob you have done an amazing job, i dint expect it to come up as well as it did.
people keep telling me im stupid for wanting to sell mark but i cant help but feel its time for a change.

thanks for the nice comments fellas

Glad you're happy with it mate.
[MENTION=608]chappers[/MENTION] the swirls are all but gone, so >95% correction on those. There are/were a fair few RDSs (as you'd expect with anything that badly swirled) which were difficult to shift, I'd conservatively say 65% of those.

I was using a Menz compounding pad and cutting polish (can't think of the number though), but it was done via DA which is why I had to work so hard on it. This weekend has helped teach me the limitations of a DA, and the Menz range of products. I'm interested to give some Hex logic pads and Megs polish a go next though, then after that I'll probably be looking around for a rotary to add to the collection.

 

[chappers]

Glad you're happy with it mate.
@chappers the swirls are all but gone, so >95% correction on those. There are/were a fair few RDSs (as you'd expect with anything that badly swirled) which were difficult to shift, I'd conservatively say 65% of those.

I was using a Menz compounding pad and cutting polish (can't think of the number though), but it was done via DA which is why I had to work so hard on it. This weekend has helped teach me the limitations of a DA, and the Menz range of products. I'm interested to give some Hex logic pads and Megs polish a go next though, then after that I'll probably be looking around for a rotary to add to the collection.

Swift work! 95% takes me 3 days.. let me in on the secrets!

Menz polishes are really good, but as you say, DA isn't the best for cutting.

Tough Coat is great for black cars isn't it!

 

[shotgunsjay]

great work, would love to see mine shine like this

 

[Robo_#1]

Haha to be honest, I was impressed at how well it cut through them, it's almost like there were LOTS of them but they were all very light. I was working VERY hard though, it did take me two days to get the job done . I even roped the Mrs in and gave her Josh's DA to do the Finishing and Tough Coat application while I finished the polishing lol.

The polishes are good, but I'm not overly impressed with the pads, I've had a couple of failures on them lately. One of them separated from the Velcro all together with no warning after just half a car (from fresh out of the new packet), I was lucky to catch it without nailing the panel I was working on.

 

[Gam]

Robbbbbbbbbbb :cloud9:

 

[Robo_#1]

Robbbbbbbbbbb :cloud9:

Hi.